The US Senate could vote in coming days on a bill to approve TransCanada’s long-delayed 830,000 b/d Keystone XL pipeline after the chamber weighs an unrelated energy efficiency bill.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said he was willing to allow a floor vote on a bill compelling the administration to approve the Keystone pipeline if Senate Republicans will allow a vote on a bill to promote energy efficiency in US building codes, public buildings, and manufacturing.
The efficiency bill, which was drafted jointly by senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), enjoys bipartisan support with six Republican and seven Democratic sponsors. The Senate voted 70-29 today to begin consideration of the bill.
The details of the Keystone bill are unclear. The Senate would likely weigh a version of legislation proposed by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), to override a US State Department review of the project, which has been subject to multiple delays.
Even if the Senate approved the measure, it would need to be approved by the House of Representatives and President Barack Obama before becoming law.
Landrieu, whose home state of Louisiana is home to many US refiners who would benefit from Canadian crude supply, said she and other Keystone supporters have gathered 58 of the 60 votes needed to pass the Keystone measure.
“I think we can get to 60, and if we can get to a vote we might get to 60,” Landrieu said.
The US administration has been reviewing the proposed project for more than five years.
Under current law, the State Department must determine whether construction of the pipeline would be in the US' national interest. The State Department last month said it was delaying its review indefinitely because of a legal challenge in Nebraska state court. That delay means the US administration is unlikely to decide on the project before the congressional mid-term elections in November.
Senator John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) and Landrieu reintroduced a bill 1 May that would recognize the State Department’s most recent environmental study formally and circumvent the need for a permit for the project. The House passed a similar measure last May.
Consideration of the efficiency bill could be held up by a disagreement between Reid and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) over potential amendments. Reid said he will not permit any amendments to the Shaheen-Portman bill. But McConnell and his fellow Republicans want the Senate to consider “at least four or five major energy amendments chosen by Senate Republicans” to Shaheen-Portman in exchange for the bill’s passage.
“We have not had a comprehensive, fulsome energy debate since 2007,” McConnell said. “A lot has happened to our country, most of it good, with regard to energy sufficiency, and this is the perfect time to have that debate.”
Senate Republicans have already filed a number of amendments indicative of the substantive issues they would like to see taken up as part of Shaheen-Portman’s passage.
jh/dcb
Send comments to feedback@argusmedia.com
If you would like to review other ArgusMedia.com content options, request more information about Argus’ energy news, data and analysis services.
Copyright © 2014 Argus Media Ltd - www.ArgusMedia.com - All rights reserved.
